Shropshire Council has spent £18.593 compensating motorists for damage caused by potholes over the last few years, figures release this week revealed.
Heather Kidd said:
“This is a lose-lose situation for everyone, whether they are motorists, councils or taxpayers. People already have to fork out so much to drive a car, the least they should expect is that their vehicle doesn’t get ruined by a bumpy road
“Shropshire is particulary bad in this respect. If you just look round my area I can this of very bad patches of potholes near Brockton, Pennerley and Marton. One study concluded that at the current rate of repair it would take Shropshire Council decades to make good all the repairs.
“Thousands of pounds are now being spent on pay-outs that could have been invested in services instead in fixing our roads.
“This is a symptom of the short-termist approach being taken to infrastructure investment. Roads should be fixed quickly so this compensation does not have to be paid out in the first place.”
Nationally a total of £12 million have been paid out over the last four years, with an average payment per person of £650.
The figures were uncovered by Freedom of Information requests to 500 councils by the Liberal Democrats.